Wine Barrel Decor

- From the Hospitality Industry to the Home -

(Tom Freeman, eWoodArt.com, February 2012)

For some, the term “Wine Barrel Décor” evokes images of kitschy knick-knacks, furniture, and planters and made from old wine barrels. Not anymore. Today’s burgeoning interest in wine, wine country lifestyle and wine-themed décor is driving an enormous wave of interest in high-end decorative wood art incorporating or made from wine barrels and casks.

We see this trend across a broad range of markets - high-end restaurants and bars, elegant tasting rooms, modest eateries, fine home wine cellars and bars …the list goes on. Some see wine barrel decor as a way to bring the casual, romantic charm of their favorite winery into their home or business. For others it’s a modern update to the old world folk art of barrel carving. Either way, it seems to speak directly to the heart of the wine lover in almost everyone.

In this article we review a number of examples of wine barrel décor our company, eWoodArt.com has provided to this broad range of clientele. First, some examples from a couple large new restaurants.

We just delivered these three 5’ diameter wine tank heads to the newest restaurant in the Fogo de Chao Brazilian Steakhouse chain in Las Vegas. The customer wanted them to look like they had just been removed from a 100+ year old winery. We were unable to locate real tanks of the desired size and condition, so we built these from scratch using old reclaimed oak and antique spigots and fittings. We carved the logos of 3 different wineries on them and heavily distressed them to look old and authentic. They were such a hit that the customer is going forward with the same feature in some of their other restaurants.

Another recent project for a high-end restaurant is this large 30-barrel “pyramid stack” for the Wine Cellar dining room in the elegant new Perry's Steakhouse & Grille in Dallas. The owner wanted a recessed private dining room that took on the feel of an old Wine Cellar. He wanted a room that was warm and interesting, but also different from anything they have ever had. We provided this “pyramid stack” of beautifully carved and finished barrel heads, displaying the logos of the most popular wines served in the restaurant.

When equipped with spigots and behind-the-wall or under-the-counter gas-push systems, barrel head carvings are being put to work dispensing wine or beer on tap in wineries, tasting rooms, bars and brew pubs. They fit perfectly into the growing "wine-on-tap" movement where bars dispense wine by the glass or carafe, and wineries sell bulk wine in re-fillable take home jugs.

Shown here are a pair of 12" deep wine-on-tap barrel heads used in the Tasting Room of Jacksonville and Fiasco Wineries in their bulk wine sales program.

A barrel head carving also makes a perfect table top when mounted on a stand made of barrel staves or cast iron. Shown here are several bar height "tasting tables" in the Bridlewood Winery tasting room.

Finally, here’s a few photos of decorative wine barrel head carvings sent to us by some proud customers. These carvings were custom designed on our site by these owners of commercial tasting rooms and residential wine cellars to provide wine barrel décor to complement their wine tasting experience.

Tom Freeman is founder and owner of eWoodArt.com, where he has integrated a lifelong career in software engineering with his passions for woodworking and wine. Contact him at tom@ewoodart.com